Spring scissor sale and a thing or two about storks…
If you are a stitcher, now is the time to get extra pairs of these handy tools; just tell your retailer how many you need. You may want a separate pair of scissors in each project bag, or want a little gift for an Easter basket, spring luncheon, or Mother's Day present. Kreinik offers these with plain edge or a serrated blade (better for cutting metallic threads).
You have probably seen a pair of stork embroidery scissors in your grandmother's sewing basket or in antique stores. The pattern seems to be timeless. It is probably the most popular pattern of scissor sold today. We started wondering why…Is it because we love birds? Or is the nature-theme just "cute"? Where did the "stork" theme come from?
Mythology and folklore going back to Ancient Greece, Egypt, Biblical times, and Chinese dynasties all connect the nesting, protective, graceful characteristics of storks with motherhood, babies, and deeper beliefs of things like "transporting souls". Cartoons, greeting cards, and children's books today continue to show storks delivering newborns to happy parents. Most of us see a stork image and immediately think of babies.
The stork pattern was apparently first used by a savvy tool maker in France who crafted umbilical clamps for midwives in the 1800s; he connected the maternal symbolism of a stork with a tool used in childbirth. We found one web site with a fascinating article about the origin of stork scissors, including photos of these early tools. The photos show how the medical implement evolved to become a more refined sewing scissor. Check it out here: http://www.creweljewels.com/
Stork scissors seem to be a creative connection from century to century. The theme embraces the past (we even found stork scissors sold on a company selling to living history re-enactors) and today's manufacturing makes them refined for our times.
Did your grandmother have a pair of stork scissors? Do you have a pair?
About Kreinik's stork scissors: http://www.kreinik.com/kshop/
